Project Highlight: Texas Cavaliers River Parade Website

January 16, 2013

Every year in downtown San Antonio, the iconic San Antonio Riverwalk transforms into the stage for one of the most anticipated, family-friendly events of Fiesta, the Texas Cavaliers River Parade. Produced by the Texas Cavaliers, a local non-profit consisting of over 500 business, civic and community leaders, the parade benefits San Antonio children’s organizations through the Texas Cavaliers Charitable Foundation.

The Texas Cavaliers commissioned Robot Creative to design a new website that would highlight the River Parade, support the organization’s mission to improve the lives of San Antonio children and tell the story of the Texas Cavaliers.

Improved Site Structure and Organization

The structure and navigation of this site were particularly challenging due to the three-pronged nature of the organization: the River Parade, the Charitable Foundation and the Texas Cavaliers as an organization.

After defining the goals for the site, ROBOT analyzed the various user groups and researched other parade and member-based websites to recommend a primary focus on the River Parade with secondary attention given to the Texas Cavaliers and the Charitable Foundation. ROBOT developed a site structure that allows users to find the information they want quickly, whether the user is:

a parade patron looking to purchase tickets,

a company interested in sponsorship opportunities,

an individual looking to donate,

a member of the Texas Cavaliers looking for member-only event information or

a children’s charity applying for a grant.

Functional Requirements
The Texas Cavaliers requested a variety of functional requirements for the site, including:

a content management system that would allow the administrative team to make content changes easily,

a donation form that integrates with existing donation software and accepts credit card payments,

a portal to allow members to access a contact database and a member-only event calendar and

e-commerce functionality for ticket and product sales.

Recognizing the need of any non-profit to focus expenses on the charitable cause rather than on expensive website development, ROBOT provided recommendations to help closely manage expenses on the initial development and maintenance of the site. These recommendations included developing the site using a simple WordPress platform for easy content management, identifying cost-saving third-party applications that integrate with the site and recommending a course of action that addresses each requirement over a series of development phases.

Messaging Development
With the expansion of the site to include a rich history of the Texas Cavaliers and its various programs, ROBOT conducted a series of interviews and information-gathering sessions to develop content that paints a vivid picture of the organization. In addition to this, ROBOT focused attention on developing powerful calls to action that encourage visitors to donate, purchase tickets and generally move through the site.

Design
Because the Texas Cavaliers River Parade did not have an existing, cohesive brand at the beginning of this project, ROBOT referenced the logo, event photos and past programs for inspiration to create the new, overall design concept. The design of the site captures the spirit of the Texas Cavaliers River Parade with a focus on large, vibrant event photos as the backdrop for each main section of the site. The iconic images selected capture traditions that are repeated year after year at the parade and other events. ROBOT also developed a series of icons that are repeated throughout the site to lead site visitors to main action pages, including ticket sales and the donation page.